Enter Wu Ling
by bhut
Summary: Sequel to 'Enter Werner', as the young von Strucker falls in love with a stranger. It must be the freckles. Also - enter the Rhino and other excitement! Au
1. Chapter 1

**Enter Wu Ling**

_Disclaimer: all characters belong to Marvel™. Except for those characters, who are OC. Those are certainly mine._

_AN – this story is an AU. Warning – canon divergence ahead._

_AN2 – this chapter is told in Werner's P.O.V., so be warned._

…NYC greeted Werner like it always did – though it was late spring slash early summer, it was still quite cool here, quite rainy, and with plenty of distractions slash entertainments for an enterprising and optimistic young man to choose.

Of course there was also some other things to take care of, and Werner's newfound friends slash mentors, (though they wouldn't admit it yet, but Werner was warming them up, he could see that in their eyes, especially those of Boss Lady) were taking care of them. Perhaps, too, Werner could have joined in on the action, but after seeing them fixing Dr. Amanda Powers up…and in exchange, she introduced them to her friends, her own branch of Hydra…yeah, Werner was happy to keep out of limelight, in this case.

Hydra did not consider itself Nazi; it considered itself…okay, Boss Man – Grant Ward – was probably right. Once you swept away all the lies, all the versions of lies, all was left was a minority of Hydra, the ones on top, the Heads, who… just wanted to hurt other people, period. Not for any high cause or lofty goal or anything like that – they just wanted to hurt people, as Rumlow did…or for money, as the Malick family did.

Thinking of Stephanie and her family made Werner feel especially sour. He never cared for her like _that_, the age difference alone was enough, but still, the fact that she and her parents were lying to his face, was especially annoying. Carmichael had already paid – Werner did turn him into a conversation piece literally; von Struckers' never made good leaders, but they had been Hydra, and they knew how to hurt people as well as any other Hydra Head did…but somehow Werner found that it did not make him feel better. Sure, it was fun, but… he could live without it.

That said? He still was not going to admit it to any of Dr. Powers' own friends, who apparently were Neo-Nazis first and Hydra second. Verily and forsooth, they were that proverbial horseradish that was as bitter as a bitter radish was, (not that Werner had any practical experience with either of those side dishes), and as such, Werner had been quite honestly happy that the Boss Man and the Boss Lady – Kara Palamas – sent him on a mission of his own: to track down a girl.

…Yes, that did sound creepy, and stalkery, and the fact that the girl's mother was the deputy director of S.H.I.E.L.D. did not really help, but Werner did not care – anything was better than having an impromptu walk down the von Strucker memory lane and remembering as to why they had abandoned 'the Party' in the first place. Von Struckers weren't leaders, but they were survivors… at least until Dr. List had enticed father into going through with the entire alien scepter plot and then the Iron Man built the bloody robot that killed both of them…and almost the rest of the world's population too…

Sounds of some commotion coming from a side caused Werner to abandon his increasingly confusing and depressing line of thoughts – Werner hated to be depressed, actually – and so he turned around and saw the girl. Judging by the face and the long hair braided into a rough and currently dishevelled ponytail, it was her – the match with the photo was perfect, though yes, right now she was much more dishevelled than she was in the photo…and she was naked.

…Belatedly, Werner was beginning to realize that part – no, most – of the reason as to why his… let us call her quarry was in such a rough state, was because was hiding behind a tree, and she was naked from her waist up. Also – freckles.

"You look very lovely," he told her brightly, because hey! A lovely young woman who is already partially naked and Werner was certainly heterosexual here, thank you very much. "Had a rough party night at college?" he continued, focusing on her lips and face, and ignoring the freckles, which were a good deal lower than her eyes, lips or face in general were located. "Been there myself a few times."

"I," the girl snapped, "I, I, I…" she trailed away and…her wings snapped shut, covering her up from the waist up.

Werner blinked. "Okay, this is different," he thought this over. "Are you a- gifted person?" he asked, trying to sound politically correct, because hey, Americans! You never know what would set them off, eh?

"I," the girl tried again. "I, I, I…" the conversation grinned to a halt as there was only so much even Werner could gab when he was the only one carrying it.

"Right," he smiled reassuringly, (though hopefully, with just a bit of suaveness because hey! A lovely young woman here, already halfway naked and with freckles! Making a good impression on her would certainly be a good thing, right?) "Kebo?" he spoke into his comm.-link.

"Yeah?" Kebo replied with his trademark grouchiness.

"I found the young lady in question!" Werner said brightly. "And she's half naked! Can you bring her some clothes, please?"

"…Werner," Werner could just hear Kebo groan. "Could you just not-"

"It's not _my_ doing, not this time," Werner shot back. "She's half naked because she's got wings, see? She is a gifted, or an InHuman, or something-something American-"

"I'll be there shortly," Kebo interrupted with a curtness that came forth only when he was honestly worried for Werner, which was touching, but here and now, it was also somewhat weird. "Don't do anything rash or stupid, do you here?" and he switched off.

"…Okay," Werner looked apologetically at his interlocutrix. "Sorry about that – Kebo's a good man, really, but sometimes…"

His interlocutrix opened and closer her mouth several times before finally speaking finally – coherently, that is. "Are you with my mother's people?" she asked finally. "With S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"No," Werner replied apologetically, "we're not. In fact, I think your mother considers Boss Lady to be her archnemesis or something like that."

"Hydra?" This was asked with a lot less enthusiasm, and Werner did not like that _at all_.

"No," he said firmly. "None of us are, and not just because Boss Lady had been abused by them. We are just – figuring out where we stand, especially the Boss Man. You?"

His interlocutrix blinked. "Are you with anyone?" Werner realized that he would have to carry conversation here, but he did not mind, not really. "S.H.I.E.L.D., Hydra, the works?"

"No," came the unexpectedly bitter reply. "I'm not with anyone. My mother's with S.H.I.E.L.D.-"

"Rumor has it, that she's apparently the deputy director of the new S.H.I.E.L.D. now-"

"…You knew her for how long?"

"…We never met," Werner admitted, with a wince – a dangerous topic this was, it seemed. "I don't think that she even knows that I exist. But the Boss Man and Lady – they know her real well, I would say…" Werner looked at his interlocutrix, took of his jacket and draped it over her, wings or no wings. "Better?"

"…You're not doing this just because I'm half-naked, are you?" the girl muttered as she scraped her shoe across the pavement. "Who are you, anyhow?"

"I'm Werner, Werner von Strucker," Werner confessed, suspecting, and rightfully so, that unlike in Europe, in the US his family name was mud.

"…You said that you weren't Hydra?" now the girl sounded quite hurt.

"We're not," Werner said very firmly, since he did not like where this conversation was going now nor Hydra itself. "Hydra had the Boss Lady physically abused and that is a good enough reason not to be it. You?"

"Me?"

"Yes. I don't remember – _are_ you with S.H.I.E.L.D.-?"

"No, I'm not," the girl said bitterly. "I'm not with anything or anyone." She paused and added, with some bitterness lingering in her voice. "My name's Wu Ling, Wu Ling May, but you may call me Naomi."

"Charmed," Werner tried to channel all of his charm as he kissed her hand in his best Old World manner. "Miss Naomi."

The girl giggled, caught herself, and turned red. There were no freckles on her cheeks, they were lower, but her sheer good looks made up for that. "You're quite beautiful, you know that?" Werner commented brightly before he caught himself and turned red.

"…You're not saying that because I'm half-naked, are you?" Wu Ling muttered as Werner and her stared at each other, faces glowing closer when they were interrupted.

"Ahem!" Kebo said _really loudly_, his voice and facial expression _really disapproving_.

"Children," the Boss Man said less loudly, but also kind of disapproving.

"Sorry," Werner turned red, even as Wu Ling squeaked and hid behind him. "We weren't doing anything, Boss Man, honest!"

"We believe you," Boss Lady replied, rolling her eyes. "Miss May?"

"Yeah?" Wu Ling muttered from behind Werner.

"Come over here, please – I brought you some clothes but I need you to come over here so we could make them fit you," Boss Lady patiently explained. "Because wings?"

"Uh, Boss Lady?" Werner blinked. "How do you know about wings beforehand? You cannot see the future-"

"No, but my sister can," Boss Man exhaled, "and she called me after Amanda left with her posse, and that was just what was missing from my day-"

"On the plus side, she gave me her sign of approval," Boss Lady pointed out; Boss Man grinned, turned red and seemed to be really interested in his shoes all over sudden.

"…In other news, she wants us to shout at your father too," Boss Lady continued brightly, as Boss Man reached out and draped his arm over her shoulders. "Ward…do that, would you?" she added, reluctantly. "We're trying to set a good example for the next generation-"

An explosion coming much deeper from within the university's campus abruptly shattered the mood and caused everyone to race in the direction of the sound. With a cry-out of "Dad?!" Wu Ling took to the skies. Needless to say, Werner put in that extra burst of speed, feeling ever proud of himself that he began to take that extra training with the Boss Man and Kebo; and then-

/ / /

-And then they arrived, and Werner saw something that he certainly had never seen in Europe: an Academia-type man being threatened by another one, that one dressed in a power suit of some sort, stylized into a rhino-type-theme-something.

"Dr. Garner?" Boss Man called out brightly, ignoring the man in the rhino suit. "Nice to meet you at last."

The academic just mumbled something, seeing how he was being choked right now, or rather – suspended in the air by his collar.

"This is Werner," Boss Man continued cheerfully. "He's going to marry your daughter!"

Werner choked and sputtered. Next to him, so did Wu Ling, though she was blushing like crazy. Her father, on the other hand, immediately stopped just flopping around and gave Warner a very fatherly look – Werner had been on the receiving end of disapproving paternal looks before, but this was something new.

"Hey!" the other man yelled. "Just who do you think you are? Waltzing around in here like that?" His beady eyes narrowed even further. "You look familiar? Are you part of those Hydra people?"

"Not anymore," Boss Man said curtly. "You?"

"Me?"

"Are you with anyone, or are you just trying to outdo Rumlow?"

"Crossbones is yesterday's news!" the suited man chortled, thumping himself in the chest with one meaty fist. "Now it's my turn! McHirn the Rhino's! And no, I am not working for anyone; I'm just doing this as a favor for my mate Shockley and his Watchdogs."

"Oh, the new KKK, got it," Boss Man nodded sagely. "That explains a lot."

"Oy! That is mean! Shockley and his Watchdogs aren't KKK; they're working with me, aren't they, and I'm-"

"Brown?"

"Well, yeah, how'd you guess-?"

"His own sister's that color, or was that color, it's complex," Boss Lady rolled her eyes. "And speaking of his sister, doc, she gave us a list of names," and she shot them off very rapidly, but slowly enough for Dr. Garner to hear them, and judging by the look in his eyes, he was not happy about it.

"And the point is, doctor, is that I'm a bad man, a fraud," Boss Man picked up effortlessly as soon as the Boss Lady finished, "but you're worse. At least I had an excuse of pretending to serve some greater purpose, I could pretend. You do not even have that, and now you are trying to pretend that you are someone you are not. How's exactly McHirn the Rhino is different from the InHumans on that list? You don't need rhyme, you don't need reason, but your girl here would appreciate it you would walk her down the aisle at her wedding…"

Dr. Garner exhaled, and suddenly looked less black than green and a lot less clothed or civilized. "What the-?" the Rhino blinked as Lash grabbed him by the horns and began to smash him all over the room – no finesse, no method, no technique, just sheer physical strength. 'Uh, Boss Man? Kebo?" Werner frowned. "I mean, does Wu Ling can also do that-?"

"Let me try," Wu Ling frowned…and shifted. Into a female winged version of her father…just without the flames that came from his hands as the latter just took the Rhino down epically. "Satisfied?"

"Yes," Werner nodded, "also ignore the Boss Man. It is not that I do not want to marry you, I do-"

"You do?" Wu Ling blinked.

Werner also blinked, thought about what he just said, and made a decision. "Yes," he said simply. "Not sure if now's a good idea, though."

"Agreed…though I'm green-"

"So's your father, and your mother still married him-"

"They're divorced-"

"Because of that-"

"No, I'm actually not sure as to why," Wu Ling landed back onto the ground, closed her wings, shifted back into her more human shape and turned to the Boss Man. "Do you-?"

"I have an idea," Boss Man admitted. "Dr. Garner?"

"Yes?" Wu Ling's father glared at them as he approached them…also naked from the waist up – apparently, Wu Ling inherited more from him than it appeared at a first glance.

"Your date is here," Boss Man said brightly as he pointed towards the now demolished doorway, through which some woman walked through.

"Andrew Garner!" she said purposefully, as she strode into the equally demolished room. "What is going on here?!"

"Ellen, I can explain," Dr. Garner exhaled, as he transformed back into his own human form. (He had no wings though). For someone who had just demolished some sort of a costumed supervillain through sheer physical prowess, he looked kind of small and miserable now.

"You're an InHuman, aren't you?" the woman – Ellen – snapped.

"Yes."

"Then why didn't you say so? Here was I, making a fool of myself, talking about aliens and their hybrids and whatever, and here you are, being one of them! Seriously, do you like being belittled?"

"Probably not – mom probably achieved it without trying, she's good at that sort of thing without it being intentional," Wu Ling suddenly piped up.

"And who are you?" the other woman glared.

"I'm their daughter – Naomi Garner," Wu Ling said brightly. "You must be Ms. Nadeer – dad has mentioned you several times by now!"

"Really?" the older woman frowned thoughtfully. "…Young lady, why are you half-naked?"

"So's Dr. Garner – they tried to have a father-daughter bonding experience and it didn't really work out," Boss Lady said equally brightly.

"Ah, I see," Ms. Nadeer turned around and apparently noticed for the first time that Dr. Garner himself was half-naked, (and quite ripped for a supposed academic himself). "Oh boy," she continued, as she looked back to Wu Ling, with some reluctance, (and Dr. Garner turned kind of brown himself), "Miss Garner, the sad truth of our society that while your father can get away with this sort of thing and would be just reputed to be 'delightfully eccentric', your reputation would be ruined, so can you get re-dressed please? It might be an unfair situation, but that is the cards we've been dealt by our society, so-"

"We're on it," Boss Lady said brightly, as she pulled out several items of clothing and some scissors, and thread with needles, and the like.

"Good and thank you, Ms.-?"

"Palamas," Boss Lady nodded cheerfully. "Nice to meet you?"

"It's reciprocated, but if you'll excuse me, I need to take Andrew home," Ellen said firmly. "I need to introduce him to Vijay anyhow."

"Who? Your younger brother-?" Dr. Garner blinked.

"Yes him," his companion exhaled. "Miss Garner? Maybe if you would come over some time?"

"We'll see," Wu Ling said brightly from behind Werner and the others. "Dad? See you around."

"Yes," Dr. Garner shot Werner a very pointed, very fatherly look and Werner had the presence of mind to look abashed. "See you around." And they left.

"Now what, Boss Man?" Werner turned to Ward.

"Now the InHumans representative is going to talk to the good senator and Garner, and hopefully, things will get better, because Hydra is already coming after them, and that's bad enough," Boss Man shot Wu Ling a look. "You're strong and you think fast, but it's not enough against Hydra, as Kara can tell you on an empty stomach."

"Empty stomach-?"

"Nothing to throw up," Boss Lady clarified flatly. "And since, you know, you're a person with a conscience and a soul and without any sadism in your body, you can stick with us, or go to your mom in S.H.I.E.L.D.-"

"No, I think that I will stick with you," Wu Ling said quickly.

There was a pause, as both she and Werner turned red. "What do we do about him?" she quickly pointed to the still prone Rhino.

"Hm," Boss Man said sagely, as he walked over to the costumed villain and jabbed his finger into some body point of the latter. Immediately the Rhino jerked awake and screamed.

"Oh good, you're awake," Boss Man commented calmly, "Now go."

"The Rhino doesn't take orders from anyone; I'll break you, little man…" the costumed villain caught Boss Man's gaze and blanched. Considering that earlier this week Werner had seen him staring down several rather insane Neo-Nazis, he was not surprised.

"Go," Boss Man said flatly. "This isn't your fight – not S.H.I.E.L.D., not Hydra, not InHumans. Go and fight Luke Cage or whoever instead."

"You haven't seen the last of me," the Rhino said bravely and left, quickly.

"Now what?" Wu Ling spoke up – and regretted it, sort of, as Boss Man stared at her now.

"Now all of us are going home, and Kara's going to lay some ground rules, because you and Werner got chemistry," he shifted his gaze to Werner who closed his mouth with a click and said nothing, because Boss Man's mood was scary right now, "and I don't want to give Melinda more unintentional reasons to kill us. Also, I hate my sister sometimes."

"Of course you do," Boss Lady came over and rubbed him on the shoulder – he effortlessly picked her up and put her there. "Ward, I'm a grown-ass woman…right. The ground rules. Let's go home and figure them out." She adjusted herself more comfortably there. "Giddy-up?" she suggested brightly. Boss Man just rolled his eyes and ventured forth. Werner grinned, aware that Boss Man was not that scary anymore and bravely took Wu Ling by hand. She grinned back, and together, they – alongside Kebo – left the university campus.


	2. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

_Disclaimer: see previous chapter._

…When Grant led his ever-growing party into their new HQ, (how did it turn to this from a simple plan from living in peace with Kara for the rest of their lives?), and saw Nick Fury waiting for them inside, he was not even surprised. Coulson and even the Cavalry were one thing, but Fury was the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. for a long time, and he was damned good at this job as well, so it was nowhere surprising that he already knew about their new HQ and everything.

"No I don't," the older man said flatly, even as he eyed all of them with his single eye, very critically, "Seriously, coming from you-"

"Director, don't go there," Grant was not backing down either, not exactly.

"I'm not the director anymore-"

"We all know that regardless of anything, Coulson is quite ready and willing to back down, especially now that his current romance is in a full swing-"

Fury winced. "Who is he dating this time, exactly?"

"Mr. Malick's wife – true, she is pretending to be a widow and is under a fake ID and all," Werner piped-up very untimely, (in Grant's opinion). "She's also running ATCU for now and all."

"…He hasn't changed at all, has he?" Fury muttered to no one in particular.

"No," Grant admitted, as everyone began to marginally relax around the newcomer – Fury didn't have Coulson's sexual charisma, of course, but he was even more familiar than his S.H.I.E.L.D. successor was. "He hasn't. He is still a good man, but he is so out of his depths, that it isn't even funny."

"And you're not making it easier for him," Fury pointed out, sufficiently stiffly.

"No, I suppose not," Grant nodded, "but when it was just Kara and I in Mexico, he was the one who restarted it, you know? Apparently, we just cannot peacefully coexist with each other, sorry."

"And now Hydra is threatening all of you, or do you think that you can counteract it?" Fury gave Ward a piercing look.

"You want us to help Coulson? Does he even need it?" Grant shot back.

"I'm not talking about him, but about the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D.," Fury said flatly, "your feud is something else, though I may try to resolve it later. So are you in or out?"

"Kara?" Grant turned around. "What's your take on it?"

Kara and Grant had a good long look at each other. Silence stretched.

"We don't owe S.H.I.E.L.D. anything, and it doesn't owe us anything either," the former agent33 said finally, "but I won't deny either that Hydra is always the worse one out of the two. Director? Just what did you have in mind?"

"This!" Fury replied immediately, as he pulled out a legal document of some sort from the table. "Please read it carefully."

"And Coulson?"

"I will deal with him," Fury said, unhappily – Coulson had been his protégé, after all, and Fury was not about to forget it – he was not about to let Coulson off the hook for that sort of thing, but neither he was happy about it. "Promise."

"Okay, people," Grant called out to the younger couple and Kebo. "Let's take a look at the paperwork, shall we?"

"Really?" Werner blinked. "Er-"

"I'm trying to do something different from Coulson," Ward said flatly. "Fury here could do it by himself, yeah, but I'm not him either, and frankly, legalese wasn't my best field either. Shall we?"

And so they did.

"Fury?" Matt Murdoch, who was Fury's current lawyer, because let us be honest – there was no vigilante that Fury did not currently known about at this moment in time. "I really hope that you know what you're doing."

"Yes," Fury said flatly. "I'll bet my eyepatch on this."

"You have an eyepatch?" Murdoch said brightly.

"Yes," Fury was not amused with the lawyer's antics. "Why – you want one of your own to impress your girlfriend?"

Murdoch turned the same shade of red that his other suit was of – and it was then that Fury's proposal was signed. "We're in," Ward said flatly. "Now let's see if Coulson can deliver on his end of the deal."

Fury just nodded in agreement.

The end?


End file.
